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South West TA Soldiers begin training in Germany

The TA are in Germany for two weeks. Photo: ITV West

The heaths and woodlands are crackling with the sound of gunfire. But the men wielding the weapons aren't regular soldiers.

The Sixth Battalion is the TA section of The Rifles Regiment and most of these men have given up a fortnight's leave from their civilian jobs to come here to hone their fighting skills in the middle of Germany.

They're from all across the South West and from all walks of life, from students to property developers.

It's quite hard. Last week I was at property auctions buying property, this week I'm out in the field 'battling'.

– Cpl Martin Harknett, Property developer from Truro

The company commander is a tree surgeon from Weddon Cross on Exmoor and he's happy with the way it's going:

It's going very well so far, we've gone back to basics, working our way up to a big battalion exercise at company level.

– Major Jonny Webber, Tree surgeon from Weddon Cross

We mobilise and we deploy to places in the middle east, we've got to go through the same routine here.

At the moment, here on Haltern training area we are the only unit. Exclusive use and that sort of thing we don't get very often.